Galleon Back Guarantee
by MuggleBeene
Summary: Rose is a seer who works for her Uncle George, but she has a secret side business, Magical Match.  Follow Rose as she juggles her job, her family and tries to keep everything under control.  Short stories, Part of the Professor Muggle series.
1. Payroll of One

Chapter 1: A Payroll of One

_London, 2034_

It was well past mid-morning when George Weasley walked through his shop, made his way through the back of the Diagon Alley location of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes and sat down in Rose's office, his usual routine. She assured him that there was nothing new for him except the latest sales figures, reminded him that he needed to restock the bubble wands and order more promotional materials for the new shop opening in Australia. Of course this wasn't what he was interested in.

"Come on, Rosie, you can tell me. I know we've said that topic is off-limits, but this is important."

Rose shook her head. "You know I'm not allowed to say anything when it comes to the sex of babies. Remember what happened with the Boyd twins?"

"You were little then, couldn't help it. Now I know that there are rules, but there are always areas that are less-explored."

"How much do you have on this one? Rose shook her head. "Fifty Galleons or something?"

George shook his head and sat back in the chair. "Merlin, no! You know me better than that. It's three Sickles with your cousin. You know how much he hates to lose."

"You made a bet with your own son on what sex the baby will be? Does Gin know you're betting on that?"

After stepping back a couple of paces from Rosie's desk, George shook his head. "Of course my daughter-in-law doesn't know, you know how she gets and now that she's pregnant, well it's considerably scary. Not that I couldn't handle it, of course, with my prodigious magical skills, but it would be best to not wind her up. When she and Hugo were over for supper the other night I might have asked her whether she was leaning towards a boy or a girl, and she wouldn't say, but…"

Rose held up her hand and stopped him. "Has it ever occurred to you that I might have already said something to Gin?"

George squinted at her and then raised an eyebrow. "Ah-ha! That's it! You already know, and you've told Gin, but…"

"Don't you have some paperwork to do?" Rose pulled back her curly hair and tied it up quickly. "I know that I have plenty."

George left the office and Rose could hear him muttering something about how he was the owner of the company, should be respected, things like that. After making sure he was safely out of her hair Rose took a deep breath and looked at her desk. The piles of folders were all very neatly organized, color coded to make filing easier, and the different colored ink bottles all stood in perfect alignment at the top of the desk. After taking out her wand and doing her daily dusting Rose picked up the framed picture on the corner of her desk. Her husband Simon sat in the grass as their boys made various attempts to escape his grasp and make their way out of the picture's boundaries. Graham was completely a two-year old, as he pushed away from Simon and made his body as slippery as possible, holding up his arms and wiggling away. The older two, so close in age, were fighting as usual. For a brief moment Walter, so good natured at five, looked straight at the camera but soon Nigel, a year younger, took the Auror toy away from his brother and threw it completely out of the picture, causing a scuffle to commence between the two of them. Rose's favorite part of the photo soon happened, as Simon let Graham slip away and the older boys ran out of the frame, and Simon just looked straight ahead and smiled as if to say "They did their best, but you know how they are."

After replacing the picture in the proper spot Rose spent the rest of the morning on the books, examining sales trends and the effect of the recent advertising push. Working for her Uncle George was usually never boring, and although most people, especially Hugo, thought her job "soul-crushingly tedious" Rose found it fascinating.

It didn't take long to get everything squared away, and after looking at her watch Rose decided that she could spare an hour or so for her "little side-project" as she called it. She'd had to hide it from her Uncle George, as if her "little project" ever became public, especially if it became known that she was running the company, it would be somewhat difficult to explain. As she took out the folders from the bottom desk drawer she heard Simon's voice in her head, as she did every time she worked on the project. "Rosie's little Galleon-generating hobby" he called it, and he teased her about it, especially as it hadn't worked at all for her, but the testimonials from her clients were effusive. The latest letter brought a smile to her face as she glanced at it momentarily.

_Magical Match changed my life! I would have never considered my husband before, but we've just celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary and are expecting our first child! Thank you Magical Match!_

Rose set aside the letter and looked at the current advertisement. It was effective, of course, but it seemed to lack something. She took out a fresh sheet of parchment and started writing. After stopping once, making a few corrections and adding on, she thought it looked promising.

_Unlucky in love? Just haven't met the right person? Let Magical Match find the right person for you! Fill out our questionnaire, send it in and we will find the perfect person to end those lonely days. We staff our company with only the most skilled Seers, providing YOU with the means to meet the person of your dreams! Minimal investment required, please see all terms and limitations, Galleon back guarantee if not fully satisfied._

"Most skilled seers," that made Rose laugh slightly. Was it wrong to intimate that there was a large staff of seers, instead of just her? Probably, but until she met someone else with her particular skills, the payroll would be wonderfully easy to maintain.

* * *

When Rose arrived home that night she could smell wonderful things coming from the kitchen, so she sat her bag down in it's proper place and headed towards the kitchen, stepping over the Auror and dragon toys that were, once again, in the middle of the floor.

"Smells wonderful, Simon." Rose went over to her husband and put her arms around his waist, pressing her cheek against his back. "What is it?"

"Lasagna, and it's nowhere near ready." He put down the spoon on the side of the stove on the spoon rest and turned towards Rose. "Good day, I take it?"

"Hmmm, yes. Uncle George tried to get me to tell him if his newest grandchild will be a boy or a girl, disbursed an obscene amount of gold to the research department, straightened out the advertising campaign for the Cardiff shop and wrote a new advert for _The Prophet_."

Simon cocked his head at his wife. "For George or for Magical Match?"

"Match." Rose stepped away from Simon and walked over towards the French bread, enchanted a knife and cut the bread lengthwise. "Got fourteen new questionnaires today. One match, but that was it."

"Need any help?" Simon wiped his hands on the flowered apron that Gran Molly had given Rose. "It's just us tonight, and I don't have to be out of town until Friday, so…"

Rose looked up, confused. "Where are the boys?"

"Your dad came 'round about an hour or so, said he needed to show them something. He didn't say what, exactly, but I heard Nigel say something about brooms. I think you can probably guess the rest."

Rose's shoulders drooped and she shook her head. "Mum's going to kill him. Toy brooms, I know it. He's been dropping hints for months now, but Mum wouldn't let him do it."

"Yeah, Hermione's been pretty adamant about that. I'm sure it'll be interesting when we pick them up or when he brings them home." He walked over to Rose and slid his arm around her waist. "You know lasagna takes a long time to cook. Plenty of time."

She smacked his hand, but leaned into his chest. "Three is plenty, thank you very much. I'm not competing with my grandparents. I already look like Gran, isn't that enough?"

Simon rested his chin on the top of Rose's head. "You don't look like your gran, the hair's all wrong." Simon could feel her sigh, so he knew he had to say something quickly or the evening would dissolve into one of _those_ evenings. "Besides, you're much prettier. Not that your gran wasn't good in her day, mind you, but…"

"Come on, Simon. I'm not quite as wide as I am tall, but I'm getting there. And I found a gray hair the other day! I'm only twenty-eight! At this rate I'll be completely white by forty."

"I don't care, Rosie. Besides, your mum's hair isn't gray. I'm sure you'll be fine."

Rose shook her head. "She colors it. Dad's been doing it for her for years."

Simon laughed loudly. "Ron Weasley, hairdresser? The Assistant Minister of Magic moonlights as a hairdresser? I can't wait until the boys come home."

* * *

Later that night, after the boys had been put to sleep and Simon had started his usual snoring, Rose couldn't sleep. She slid from the bed, not worrying about waking her husband as when he went to sleep he was out like a light. It was while putting on her dressing robe that she caught her reflection in the mirror that hung on the back of the closet door. Rose took a few steps closer to the mirror, and in the small amount of light that came through the window she looked closely at herself, talking quietly as she examined herself.

"At least I'm taller than Gran, but not by much." She pulled her nightdress close around her body and sighed. "If we did have another any hope of having a waist, let alone fitting in my old dresses would be history. Mum's hair, Dad's complexion, still too many freckles, and Gran's body. No wonder Graham says 'Mummy' when he looks at old pictures of Gran." Rose leaned in closely, looking at her face. "Maybe I should ask Lily if she knows any anti-wrinkling spells. I'm sure that will happen next."

Simon half-snorted, rolled over in bed and was silent for a few seconds, and then the usual droning snore began.

Rose turned towards the bed and looked at her husband's sleeping form. "At least I have you, Simon. Never saw that one coming, and I'm glad that I didn't."

After fixing a cup of decaffeinated tea Rose sat in her little sewing room, rocking back and forth in her favorite chair while knitting needles did their work over in the corner. The blue baby blanket for Gin and Hugo was coming together quickly, and then it would be on to the Weasley Christmas jumpers. She'd drawn names with her Gran for who they would be making jumpers for that year, and the draw had been pretty good except for Xavier. Her cousin was always very picky about his jumpers, almost to the point of rudeness the last time, but her Uncle Charlie had straightened that out quickly. Rose chalked it up to the fact that he was in his last year at Hogwarts. He still hadn't decided on what to do after Hogwarts, and Rose knew that at Christmas somehow they'd find a way for her to have "the future talk" with Xavier. It wasn't blatantly obvious, but Rose knew that all of her family at one time or another had tried to talk with her to get insight to questions they had. Being a seer wasn't all that it was cracked up to be most of the time. At least it would be fairly easy to talk to Xavier; the boy wore his emotions on his sleeve.

Rose looked out the window toward the lights of London. So many people out walking around without a clue, and she wondered if sometimes that wasn't better. As she told her family, she wasn't always right, but what she didn't say was that somehow or other she _was_ always right; it was the interpretation, not the vision itself that was usually the issue. Albus was the prime example of that, as Rose had seen Albus on a date, but it wasn't a romantic date, just a friendly outing. After that incident she tried not to interpret, just to report. But those people out there, the ones walking through the streets, eating at restaurants and sleeping, they didn't know what was going to happen next, they just let the events take them along, swept up in the stream of "the now."

Rose got up from her chair, pulled a folder off of the sewing table and sat down cross-legged on the floor. After taking out all of the questionnaires she sat them face down on the floor and spread them apart. Something was keeping her awake, and it was probably the matches. She took a sip of tea and set her cup and saucer off to the side, out of the way in case it would spill somehow. After all of the questionnaires were separated she began looking at them, and then pulled one of them out from the left and looked suddenly over to her right, taking up a piece of parchment that was mostly hidden under another questionnaire. She put the two parchments together, and it began.

_The clouds were dark and full as rain came down in small waves, the wind pushing it across an open field. A dark-haired woman walked out of a small, rustic looking house and tightened her scarf around her throat, took a few steps into the field with her blue Wellies, jammed her rain hat down over her head and walked towards a barn. As the woman walked into the barn the rain ceased, bright lights encompassed everything and the smell of hay was prevalent. The woman turned sharply and walked towards the light where a man in a frayed green coat sat in the hay, holding something small. He smiled up at the woman and the woman knelt down close to him. In his arms the man held four newborn puppies. The woman sat down next to the man in the hay, put her hands gently on one of the puppies, and then gave the man a tender kiss on the lips._

As soon as it had started it was over. Rose blinked several times, sat the questionnaires down and reached for her tea. A soft touch of fur against her knee helped bring her back to the present, and she looked over towards the fat gray kneazle cat. "Pippy, you know you're not supposed to be in here." The cat began purring and sat in her lap, ignoring the fact that he was supposedly banned from the sewing room due to a rather unfortunate yarn incident. Rose petted the cat, and a few moments after draining the cup she turned over the questionnaires that had sparked her vision.

"Well, Pippy, this will certainly be interesting. Mortimer Flipshod, farmer in his early twenties and Celine Wilperk. She's at least ten years older than he is." Rose glanced at the questionnaires and shook her head. "Eleven. Well, I'm sure this will be interesting. Let's see what they had to say."

Rose looked over the questionnaires and it was as usual; nothing on the questionnaires would have ever led her to put that witch and wizard together. Flipshod was a Hufflepuff when he attended Hogwarts, inherited the farm from his grandfather and was looking for someone who enjoys the outdoors, cooking and quiet nights at home. Wilperk, on the other had, was a low-level executive at Jensen's Famous Floo Powder, had attended Beauxbatons and loved fashion, going to the WeasleyVision movies and going out dancing. A country boy and a chic, London executive.

"Pippy, I think I remember Mortimer from Hogwarts. Always a quiet boy." She petted the cat, and Pippy rolled over in her lap. "Yes, I'll scratch your tummy. You are such a baby."

With one hand on the cat Rose put the questionnaires of Mortimer Flipshod and Celine Wilperk together. After retrieving her wand from the pocket of her dressing gown she gave it a small flick, and the two questionnaires joined together at the top. Rose turned towards the questionnaires, but nothing stirred so she placed them all back in the file. Maybe there would be some more questionnaires tomorrow.

* * *

The next morning Rose got out of bed rather late; she knew she'd slept too long when she couldn't feel Simon in bed with her. If Simon beat her out of bed, it never ended well. She got out of bed quickly and threw on her dressing gown, not bothering with her slippers. In times like this speed was of the essence.

The moment she arrived in the kitchen her fears were realized; Simon stood at the stove while her boys sat in various states of dress at the table, food and spilled milk covering Graham's hair while Walter and Nigel fought over the last piece of bacon.

"I'm bigger, I need more." Walter's fork was on the bacon, but Nigel wasn't backing down.

"You eat everything. I never get food. You eat Pippy's food if…"

Rose could feel it building, but it was out before she could think. "ENOUGH!"

Simon and the boys looked over to Rosie. Simon's face immediately melted into an expression of gratitude, but the boys looked nervous.

Rose walked over to the table, removed Walter's fork and picked up the last piece of bacon. "Your father will make more, you are not starving, nobody is eating Pippy's food and for the love of Merlin, Graham, the food goes in not on." She took out her wand and cleaned up Graham, fixed a cup of tea, sat down at the table and fixed her two oldest sons with a withering gaze. She picked up the piece of bacon and shook it at Walter and Nigel. "What would Granny Hermione say if she saw you two right now?"

Simon placed a plate of bacon on the table and whispered in Rose's ear "I'm not sure what she'd say, but your Dad would ask if you were going to eat that or not."

With an irritated expression Rose took her hand and shooed her husband away. "I think I'll take them to school today. Maybe I should have a talk with Mrs. Ryder-Smythe."

Nigel shrugged but Walter looked as if all the blood had drained from his face. "Mum, no, um, she's…gone. She's not…"

Rose looked over at her middle son. "Walter Oliver Wood, I would stop right there if I was you. Do you really want to go down that path again?"

Walter shrunk down in his seat; he knew from that tone that his mum wasn't fooling around. He sat quietly for a moment, chin almost pinned to his chest and he couldn't look at his mum. "No, Mum."

Rose and Simon looked at each other briefly and both of them rolled their eyes. Rose pursed her lips slightly, and then looked over to Walter. "That's what I thought." She popped the piece of bacon into her mouth and shook her head. She had no idea how her Granny Weasley had managed.


	2. Prize Winning Announcements

**Chapter 2: Prize Winning Announcements**

George Weasley was sitting in Rose's chair when she entered her office. He could tell that she was slightly flustered, as she looked like her mother in those moments; hair askew, her brow knitted and walking faster than usual.

"What's the matter, Rosie? Have a bit of a lie in this morning and decide to chuck it all here at this fine establishment before realizing that I'd be lost without you?" George took his feet off of her desk and in doing so noticed her glance at his feet. She didn't say anything, which was unusual.

As George got out of her chair Rosie moved around the desk and sat down. She placed her bag on the floor and then reached for something on her desk, but stopped with her hand still in the air.

"Uncle George, what did you do to my desk?"

George raised an eyebrow. "Didn't see that one coming did you?"

Rose took a deep breath and then began reorganizing her desk. All of the items that usually resided on the left side of the desk now sat on the right, and vice-versa. "You've swapped everything on my desk. Brilliant. Today is so not the day for this."

After taking a few steps closer to Rose George peered at her intently and then sat down in a chair in front of her desk. "I don't see dragon pox, you don't look green, so I'm not sure what's wrong with you. What happened, Walter and Nigel try to stick Graham up the chimney?"

Rose took a deep breath and then sat back quickly in her chair. "No. I just got back from St. Mungo's. I'm pregnant again."

"Well, bet you didn't see that one…I could say several other things, all of which would lead to you telling your Mum, Hermione Flooing Angelina and then I'd be sleeping in my office again, so I'll just say congratulations. I'd say this one has the slightest chance of being a girl and usually I'd ask you but since you can't predict things about yourself or your immediate family I'd say this is going to be a good one, no hints on this bet."

"I'm so glad I can give the family a good betting opportunity." Rose leaned forward and put her elbows on her desk and then dropped her forehead until it rested on the cool, cool wood of the desk.

"You know Mum will be ecstatic. I think she's counting on you to continue the Weasley tradition, a garden full of ginger boys beating each other up and setting things on fire. Don't go messing it up with a girl, then. Just think, if you can keep going maybe you can end up with seven boys. You'd win the Weasley prize from Mum! So when is the little bugger showing up?"

"The end of December." Rose lifted her head from the desk. "Right after the Christmas rush but before the end of the year books are due."

George got up and patted Rose on the top of her head. "Looks like it will be a Happy New Year, then. Ok, I'll leave you two alone. Tell Simon 'well done' again."

As soon as George left Rose checked her desk drawers to make sure George hadn't done anything to them; most importantly she needed to make sure he didn't find the Magical Match folders. Luckily her uncle had only messed with the top of her desk, so after breathing a big sigh of relief Rose took the next ten minutes returning things to their proper places. For the rest of the morning Rose threw herself into work; there was something comforting to her about wrangling numbers, finding the meanings in the sales metrics, reviewing the ticket sales at the WeasleyVision theaters and looking at the budget forecasts for the next year. For some reason numbers had always been easy for her, there was a logic to them but it was more than that, the numbers told stories if you knew how to look at them the right way.

As the mail was delivered by one of George's interns, some Gryffindor boy who'd been in detention most of the term last year, Rose was happy that her charm was still working. Whatever addresses the Magical Match respondents mailed their questionnaires they arrived at her office with unobtrusive address. This current week's address was, to any regular person, just another series of junk mail, adverts for things like a new quill storage system. Rose, however, knew better, as the mail was sent to Rose Q. Wood and her middle name most certainly did not begin with the letter Q. Rose took the Magical Match envelopes and separated them from the rest of her Wheezes mail and put them in the bottom drawer. There would be time for that later. Rose looked at her watch and decided that even though it was only eleven she was taking lunch, and after the morning she had Rose knew exactly where she was going.

* * *

Rose arrived in an alley close to her destination, and after crossing the appropriate street and finding the secret entrance the large deep blue awnings of Victus appeared. She and Simon had been talking about trying to have her Mum or his Mum watch the boys and actually go out and eat a grown-up meal at the restaurant, a meal without someone spilling their milk or throwing a fit or hitting one of their brothers, but somehow they just hadn't managed it. Rose thought that maybe she could convince Simon that tonight would be appropriate, as he was as shocked as she was about her St. Mungo's revelation. The guilt of making her go through birth for the fourth time should be good enough to convince him, and after she stopped in at the Ministry and told her mother it was easy to guess that she'd have a babysitter.

The sign on the door said "Closed" in a very elegant script, but Rose ignored the sign and knocked anyway. After waiting a few moments a familiar face appeared behind the curtain in the front window, and soon the Rose could hear the door being unlocked. Lily Boyd had her hair pulled back and wore a purple apron that was covered with flour.

"Rosie? What brings you by? The usual?"

"Oh Lily, you don't know how right you are."

After entering the dimly-lit restaurant Rose followed Lily towards the door to the kitchen, where the light was almost blinding in its contrast to the rest of Victus. Before Rose could say anything Lily held up a hand, took her wand and opened the large, industrial oven. Out of the door floated a tray of freshly baked croissants which landed on a metal counter to the side. Lily took a plate and some butter, sat them before Rose, and then prepared two very strong, small cups of coffee. "Ok, Rose, what's going on? The only time you stop over this early is if something is really bothering you, so spill."

"Um, do you have any decaffeinated coffee or tea, Lils?"

"Merlin's pants, Rosie? Are you? I mean, the only time you ever drink…"

Rose's shoulders sagged. "Yes, again." She reached out for the croissant, tore off a section and slathered it with butter. "I just found out. I'm going to look like Granny Molly, so much for every appearing fashionable in a swimsuit again. I know Simon doesn't care, but…and it's going to be a boy, I know it. Four boys, Lily? At least Granny Molly had Aunt Ginny."

Lily crossed her legs and took a sip of her coffee. "Congratulations, I guess. Come on, Rose. Just be glad you can have more."

Rose's face fell. "Oh, I'm so sorry Lily. I know how much you and HR…ok, I'm going to shut my mouth now." Rose popped the piece of croissant into her mouth and melted butter dribbled slightly on the side of her cheek. Lily handed her a kitchen towel and she wiped her face. "I guess one good thing is that I'll be able to see more. Always happens when I'm pregnant."

Lily clasped her hands together. "Oh mighty Rose of Wood, please tell me what lies in my future! Will I marry that dashing man, move to a fabulous house and have servants take care of my every need? Will my Quidditch team win the championship this year?"

Rose rolled her eyes. "Shut it, you."

After her laugh subsided, Lily's face returned to a serious look. "I know this was unexpected for you, and you hadn't planned on it at all, but look at the good side of things, Rosie. You have a wonderful husband, your kids are, well, they're boys so they're fairly well behaved, you've got a good job…things could be much worse."

Rose nodded. "That is true. I can't imagine being with anyone except Simon."

"Plus HR says you were made for each other, literally."

"Yes, I know, Lily. Wandmaker humor, very funny. Besides, that little joke stopped being funny years ago." Rose stood up. "Thanks for listening, Lils. I need to get back to the office."

Lily watched Rose's eyes stray to the sheet of freshly baked croissants. "Why don't I box a few of these up for you, a little congratulatory snack?"

* * *

Back at her office, nibbling on a croissant and drinking that horrible tasting tea her mum insisted upon when she was pregnant, Rose was restless. Another baby? Yes, she and Simon were doing well; her job at Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes corporate office paid well, not to mention Simon's Keeper position with the Chudley Cannons. The house would be able to accommodate another baby, but just barely. If this was the last baby then they would be all right, but if there was another one? Another one? Rose fell back into her chair at the thought. When she reached forward for her tea she saw the picture on her desk, and as usual settled on Simon looking at her hopelessly. His smile took her back in her memories to when she and Simon first started dating.

_It was James' first year as a reserve Beater on the Puddlemere United team. She had gone with Albus, Lily, Hugo and HR to the match against the Wimbourne Wasps, sitting for the first time in one of the special sections for family members. Her father had gone to the game with her Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny, along with Professor Muggle and Melody, but as always her Dad was loyal to only one team, the Chudley Cannons, and wore his favorite bright orange Cannons scarf. The game had been interesting only due to the hope that Puddlemere might put in James, but it wasn't to be; he didn't play one second. Besides that the only thing that had happened was that Rose got a small vision of HR and Lily together, something that surprised her, as HR was usually so quiet and Lily was, well, Lily._

_It was after the match when Oliver Wood came into the skybox to talk to her Dad and Uncle Harry that something happened between her and Simon. She knew him from school, obviously, but she noticed how he kept looking at her and then would glance away quickly. Almost all of regular crowd had left the stadium and as usual the adults were sitting around talking about completely boring things, leaving all of the Hogwarts students in a group, waiting for James to come out of the locker room. When they gathered together over the remaining butterbeers in the cooler it turned out that there weren't enough butterbeers for everybody, someone would have to go without. Before anyone could say anything Simon opened a butterbeer and passed it to Rose._

_That last year at Hogwarts was wonderful. Rose and Simon began talking to each other between classes and it didn't matter that Rose was in Ravenclaw and Simon was a year younger than her in Gryffindor, they spent more and more time together. It was right before the Christmas holiday, right after Transfiguration when they found themselves walking along a deserted corridor and stopped to look out the window. That was the spot of their first kiss._

_When it was official that they were dating they were at a Quidditch match, sitting together when Albus and HR stopped by to sit with them. HR was talking about wands as usual, and asked to see Simon's. When he began laughing Rose couldn't figure out why until he said they were destined to be together, Simon's wand was made of rosewood, which would be her name if they got married._

_After leaving Hogwarts Rose worked at Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes, and she thought of that first little office with her picture of Simon. Then the offices and pictures changed, Simon in his reserve Keeper uniform for the Chudley Cannons, standing next to her completely over-the-moon father. Together at HR & Lily's second, Ginny-requested wedding. Simon at a War Bond drive with the rest of the Cannons. Their wedding day, both of them looking so happy. _

"Rose!" George stood at the doorway with his hand on his hip. "Good Godric, girl, I've been saying your name for the last few minutes. What'd you see this time, me winning the Best Businessman in the World award? That'd do nicely."

Rose shook her head and came back to the present. "No, I saw Aunt Angelina yelling at you for being an idiot."

George shrugged. "That's just a replay of this morning. I though seers were supposed to see the future?

"What do you need, George?"

"Just thought I might end up getting some more yarn for Mum and thought you might need some for a baby blanket or something like that. What kind should I get, pink or blue?"

"Goodbye, George."

* * *

After completing all of her work on the research forecast Rose was mentally exhausted. The actual numbers for the research forecast were easy; what was draining her was trying to think about the new baby, all the changes at the house, wondering how the boys would take the news…too many things. A quick look at her watch made Rose realize that she had an hour or so to do a little Magical Match so she took out her wand, closed and locked her office door. After taking the questionnaires out of the folder she placed them all face down on her desk and shuffled them around. Rose pulled out one of the questionnaires the stack and placed it aside, and then felt an urge to open some mail that had arrived but she hadn't had time to open yet. Rose took an envelope, opened it and pulled the questionnaire out. Once that questionnaire and the one that had been separated from the stack were placed together she felt the familiar fog take over.

_The interior of a large storeroom appeared, cleanly lit and bright. A woman walked into the room, looked around as if to make sure nobody was there, and strode purposely towards a shelf. After taking out a clipboard she began counting, making notes. As the woman moved her hair back from her head her face became clear…"_

Rose dropped the parchments. She knew the woman in the vision and wasn't sure if she wanted to continue. Poesy Phillips-Jones was one of George's division leaders at Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes, happily married for years. Why would Poesy send in a questionnaire to Magical Match? Rose shook her head, remembering the first time she'd seen a vision that involved two unhappily married people. Luckily she hadn't known them, but this was different; she attended meetings with Poesy all the time at the corporate office. Not only that, but Poesy's husband Basil was one of the nicest men she'd ever met; she always looked forward to speaking with him at the company Christmas party. He would be heartbroken!

Rose took a deep breath and picked up the questionnaires again, and it was almost as if she stepped back into the vision at exactly the moment she left off.

…_Poesy continued marking things off on a clipboard when a red-headed man walked in, his face obscured from her vision. Poesy greeted him kindly, her face showing evidence of a broad smile. They talked for a moment and Poesy began crying. She hugged the man tightly and then another voice was heard, that of a younger woman. When the woman walked into the line of sight the red-headed man turned to talk to the newcomer, and Poesy left the storeroom, dabbing at her eyes with a handkerchief. The couple talked for a bit, and then suddenly the man got down on one knee, holding up a box that contained a diamond engagement ring. The young woman shifted her weight, her hips changing slightly and then she took the ring, put it on and nodded._

Rose blinked rapidly as the vision ended. After placing the questionnaires back on the desk she rubbed her temples hard with her fingers. At least she wasn't privy to an affair by Poesy; that would have been too much to bear. Slowly Rose turned over the questionnaires and gasped. The first questionnaire, the one that had been in the file and was flattened was from Elise Phillips-Jones, Poesy's daughter, but the second one, the newly arrived one, that was the one that had taken her by surprise. The distinctly sloppy handwriting of her cousin Freddie Weasley covered the questionnaire.

"Merlin's socks!" Rose chuckled as she realized she'd said it out loud. The match certainly would be interesting, especially as Freddie and Elise had dated at Hogwarts and then broken up spectacularly at a Muggle Club party that Professor Muggle threw every year. Melody, Professor Muggle's wife even had to step in between them, threatening to bodybind the two of them. Nobody every knew exactly what had caused the fight, but at every event that put the two of them together in the same room, whether a Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes event or a party, both Freddie and Elise went out of their way to avoid the other one. Rose shook her head, as not only was it Freddie and Elise, but she was shocked that Freddie had sent in a questionnaire; usually her family members tried to bribe her or do other things to try and find out their futures. At least she usually couldn't see anything about her immediate family except for things that were especially strong. The day she got the vision of her father as Minister of Magic it gave her a headache that lasted the rest of the week.

Not even bothering to look at what Elise or Freddie wrote on their questionnaires Rose took out her wand and sealed the parchment. Instead of using the standard letter to inform the other person of their match, Rose knew something different was needed in this case. After unlocking her office Rose jotted down a note and had one of the assistants sent it by owl. It didn't take long to get a reply, and Rose didn't take long reading the letter, simply scanning it for the date confirmation. She knew Lily wouldn't have any trouble making sure one of her reservation requests would work in her restaurant, but this was going to be interesting. Perhaps she and Simon should have her Mum watch the boys that night, she thought, and then nodded. Yes, Saturday night at Victus instead of tonight; this was going to be interesting. She started writing the letter, stopped once, and then continued, smiling the entire time. After finishing it she proof-read it.

_You have a match! The staff of Magical Match is happy to announce that, using our group of trained seers, we have located the perfect person for you. Standard Magical Match process is to inform each party of the match and let nature take its course, but you are the winner of a special prize! As the one thousandth couple you have won an all expense paid dinner at Victus, one of magical London's hottest restaurants. The reservation is for this Saturday at 8pm, the corner table. Tell the hostess at Victus that you are the winner of a contest and you'll be shown to the table where you will meet the person you've been searching for your entire life! _

_We at Magical Match congratulate you on your prizes, the fabulous dinner reservation AND meeting the right person for you!_

Rose smiled, thinking of how she'd managed the little bit of trickery with Lily, telling her that there was a sales contest at the shop and to send her the bill for the winners. The only thing that concerned her was that Lily gave her an odd look every now and then; maybe she'd have to tell Lily; if anybody would understand and could keep a secret, it was her. After using an enchantment to change the handwriting and duplicating the letter Rose slid the "prize winning announcements" into envelopes. As the assistant took the letters away to send them by owl Rose smiled; it was going to be a very, very interesting dinner at Victus on Saturday.


	3. Bisbul

**Chapter 3: Bisbul**

Hermione Weasley opened the door to Rose's house, not bothering to knock as usually the volume level was too high for anyone to hear. The moment she stepped in the house her youngest grandson, completely naked, went running through the room laughing to himself. After pausing a moment Hermione headed towards the kitchen, where she expected to find Rose, but instead she found her oldest two grandsons. Walter, the eldest, was drawing what looked to be like a face on a box that perched on top of Nigel's head. That in and of itself was interesting, but the fact that the boys were sitting on top of the kitchen table wearing pajamas at three in the afternoon on a Saturday made her shake her head.

"Walter, what are you doing to Nigel?" She sat down on a chair next to the boys. "Is that a face?"

"Hi Grandmum! Yeah, he's a robot, you know like the ones Artie has, he's got a red one an' a blue one, an'…"

Hermione nodded her head and kept a serious expression on her face. "That's very nice, Walter. Nigel, do you like being a robot?"

The cardboard box on Nigel's head shook back and forth positively, causing Walter to grab it. "Nigel you made me mess up! Hold still!"

Hermione hummed to herself for a moment. "Walter, where's your mum?"

He answered without looking at his Grandmum as he was concentrating on Nigel's robot face. "In her yarn room. We're gettin' another brother!"

Hermione heard a muffled "Sister!" come from underneath the box. That caught her unexpectedly, as she put a hand to her mouth in surprise. "Ok, boys, do try and be good. I'll be back in a moment."

As she made her way to the staircase and Rose's sewing room Hermione reached out and caught her youngest grandson. His naked body squirmed against her as she picked him up. "Graham, why are you naked?"

"Bisbul, bisbul, bisbul!" He smiled broadly and then tried to wiggle out of her grasp and had almost succeeded until she got a hold on one of his ankles. Graham thought it was funny, being held upside-down by his grandmum, and it was in this fashion that he and Hermione entered Rose's sewing room.

"Rosie, do I want to know why this little gnome is naked and the other two are on the kitchen table? And why they're still wearing pajamas?"

"Bisbul!" Graham laughed again and Hermione put him down gently on the floor. As soon as he could stand he ran out of the room."

"Hi Mum." Rosie flicked her wand at a set of knitting needles in the corner and put down the set that she was using manually. "Let me see…Graham is invisible, at least that's what he's been saying today. I tried to explain to him what the word invisible meant, as his brothers were talking about an invisible robot or something like that, and Walter told him it was like you didn't have on any clothes. He's been naked since breakfast. The robot comment made Walter and Nigel decide that if they couldn't have robots like Artie's they were going to make robots. I gave them a couple of old boxes and told them to be creative. As for why they're on the kitchen table I really have no idea."

Hermione looked around for another chair to sit in but remembered that Rose only kept a single chair in her sewing room on purpose. She drew out her wand and conjured a chair, and after sitting down she looked over to her daughter. "Rosie, Walter and Nigel seem to think that they'll have a brother or a sister soon. Is that true?"

Rose shook her head. "Those two…yes, Mum, I'm pregnant. I just found out yesterday and wanted to tell you and Dad later tonight…wait, why are you here by yourself? Where's Dad? And aren't you about..." Rose looked at her watch. "Three hours early?"

"Oh Rosie, a fourth? How will you manage?" Hermione raised an eyebrow but the big smile on her face gave away her true feelings. "Maybe this one will be a girl. You haven't had any…"

Rose shook her head. "No Mum, I haven't had any pregnancy dreams yet. You didn't answer my questions, why are you here so early? Is Dad coming over to help?"

"You know your father always wanted a large family but after your brother was born we were both so busy with work, and your brother's delivery wasn't the easiest. He'll be thrilled." Hermione's smile had yet to leave her face, and her thoughts were far away from her daughter's question. "Granny Molly won't know what to do with herself, she's always hoped that someone would follow 'the family tradition' and have a large family."

"Mum, you're doing it again." Rose shook a knitting needle jokingly in her direction. "The witness will answer the questions."

That brought Hermione out of her reverie. "I'm sorry, Rosie. So much happening at once. Rose, I'm leaving the Ministry."

"What?" Rose sat back against her chair, shocked. If there was anybody who could have been said to have been born to be in Magical Law Enforcement, it was her mother. "Does Dad know?"

"Of course he does, dear. We've talked about this for years. Rosie, I'm finally going to do it. We've secured the funding, the location and a few staff. We're opening a wizarding university!"

Rose blinked a few moments in surprise, but then laughed. "Dad always said if there's one thing you like better than rules its school."

"That sounds like your father. Speaking of your father, that's another reason why I'm leaving the Ministry. Rose, he's going to leave the Auror department. You know he's been involved with more and more things besides the Aurors and, Rose he's been made Assistant Minister of Magic!"

"Holy sh…are you serious, Mum?"

Hermione squinted at her daughter. "I knew all that time in Professor Muggle's class would affect your language. I will have a word with Hank very soon."

"Bugger my language, Mum. When did this happen?"

Before Hermione could respond Graham came running into the room, still naked except for a small box on his head that had two forks stuck to the top of the box. "Bisbul wobot!"

Rose took one look at him and shook her head. "Graham, do you know what? Robots never eat any food. No biscuits or sandwiches or crisps. If you stay an invisible robot you won't get anything to eat ever again."

The room was silent as Graham stood still. Finally a small, muffled and worried voice could be heard inside the box. "Choklit?"

Rose nodded her head. "Yes, Mr. Invisible Robot, no chocolate. And Grandmum Hermione will be here tonight to fix supper for you and your brothers. Granddad Ron is coming over later, and you know what that means."

The box on Graham's head wobbled back and forth. "Puddin!"

"That's right, Granddad Ron always brings over pudding. You don't want to miss that, do you? You can be a robot later, why don't we get you dressed so you don't miss that, ok?"

Graham pushed off the box and stood in front of his mum. "Hi Mum. No bisbul!"

Rose feigned surprise at seeing her no longer invisible son. "Graham! When did you get here! I didn't see you!" She got up from her chair and picked up her laughing, naked son. "Let's go get you some clothes, then, shall we?"

* * *

Rose and Simon sat at one of the best tables in Victus, nibbling on an appetizer. Every so often Rose would look over to the table that held a small sign that said _Reserved_, look at her watch and then return her focus to her husband.

"Rosie, they'll show. Can't believe this one, Freddie and Elise. Ok, enough about that, tell me again what your Mum said?"

Rose leaned over the table to ensure that their conversation wasn't overheard. "You have to keep this under your hat, Simon. Mum said that it hasn't been announced yet, but she's leaving the Ministry to start the university she's always been banging on about, and that she couldn't really be in the Ministry if Dad was going to be in administration. I think Dad's being prepared to be Minister. Can you believe that?"

Simon's eyebrows went up and he pursed his lips. "Actually, I can. Yes, I can see that. You know your Dad's always been more interested in the planning side. What's your Uncle Harry always say?"

Rose propped her elbow on the table and rested her chin in the palm of her hand. "Dad makes the plan, Uncle Harry catches the bad guys and Mum puts them in Azkaban."

"Exactly." Simon took a drink of sparkly water. "I don't think your Dad wants to be their boss. Eventually, that is. Kind of hard to do that after all those years. Besides, can you imagine what would happen if he tried to tell your Mum what to do at the Ministry?"

Rose made an awful face and shook her head. "It'd be a repeat of the time we went on holiday to Egypt. That was horrible."

"Makes perfect sense then, Rosie."

They both became aware of someone standing next to their table, so they sat back and looked at the stranger. A middle-aged witch in a very expensive green robe stood beside them.

"I'm awfully sorry to intrude, please excuse me. Mr. Wood, my youngest is your biggest fan, and if he found out that I missed this opportunity…"

Rose smiled as Simon smiled and began asking the woman a few questions about her son. She didn't mind the occasional interruption, as it was part of the life of being married to a professional Quidditch player. Simon took the proffered quill and wrote something on the back of a menu and handed it to the woman. She thanked him profusely, apologized to him and Rose and then left the table.

"Sorry, Rosie. Now where were we?"

"Mum and Dad. So…" Rose stopped in mid-sentence as Elise Phillips-Jones walked by their table and headed towards the reserved table accompanied by the hostess. "Oh Simon, she's here. Now Freddie just needs to show up. This is going to be interesting."

"It always is, love. Now if I can get your attention for a few moments let's talk about names. Should we even bother with a girl's name or just keep the one we've been planning on the last three times?"

"I haven't had any dreams. Honestly, you sound like Mum." Suddenly Rosie took a big breath. "Oh, Freddie's here."

Freddie walked through the tables accompanied by the hostess and after he passed Rosie realized she'd sat on the wrong side of the table; she couldn't see what was happening unless she blatantly turned around to look. "Simon! Change seats with me."

"No, Rose. Are you mental? They'll see us and it couldn't be more obvious. Just sit still; I'll give you the play-by-play."

"This isn't Quidditch, Simon." She locked eyes with him and realized that he wasn't going to move. "Fine. What's happening?"

"They're talking and ordering drinks, I think."

"You think?"

"Rose…"

"All right. So?"

"Talking, Rosie, that's it. Now, about number four…"

Rose shook her head. "We have nine months. Focus!"

Simon sighed. He knew what she was like when she was focused on something. He'd had a conversation with Ron after he and Rose were first married and Ron told him that in that aspect she was just like her Mum. Ron's advice had been good, as he told Simon to let her have her way with some things or else she would fixate on the issue, build up a head of steam and then it would blow up into a full-fledged argument. 'Pick your battles, son.' That had been good advice, even if Simon did have difficulty following it every now and then. "Ok, the waitress just brought over two glasses of wine. They're drinking their wine and talking, that's it."

Their waitress brought the entrees and Rose didn't even look at her plate, she was still concentrating on Simon, hoping his expression would give her some indication of the proceedings at the other table. Simon, however, began to dig into his steak.

"Simon! How can you eat at a time like this?"

"Easy, love. I'm hungry and I don't like cold steak." He took a look at his wife and sat down his knife and fork. "Fine. They're talking and…oh. That can't be good."

Elise Phillips-Jones walked past their table and headed for the front door, walking fast.

"Um, Rose, she just threw her glass of wine in Freddie's face and took off. I'm not sure if this one is going to work out."

Freddie started walking past their table but suddenly stopped, turned and looked at Rose. "Rosie! Simon! I didn't know you were here." Red wine stained the front of his formerly white shirt. "Um, yeah, bad date."

Rose took out her wand and with a quick _scourgify_ Freddie's shirt was as good as new. "What happened, Freddie?"

The question was obviously taken as an invitation, as Freddie sat down in one of the empty chairs next to Simon. "Magical bloody Match, that's what happened. I know, kind of embarrassing, but I sent in one of their things. They set me up with Elise Phillips-Jones, can you believe that? Of all the witches I get her. Stupid bloody seers, I bet they're all a bunch of spinster old hags. They say you can have a Galleon back guarantee, and I can tell you I'm going to call them on it."

Simon and Rose exchanged glances, but neither of them said a word. Freddie stood up suddenly. "Right then, I've obviously interrupted your evening and since I don't see the little monsters I'm assuming this is a date, so I'll leave you. Lily doesn't have any firewhiskey here and I could definitely use one or fifteen of those. Night."

* * *

When they arrived home Rose had to stifle a laugh, as her father, along with her boys, all sat on the living floor around Nigel's Auror figures wearing boxes on their heads with eyeholes cut out in the front. Hermione was sitting in a chair by herself, reading a book.

Rose took in the scene and laughed. "I think you make a great robot, Dad."

Ron turned to her and answered, box still on his head. "I'm the head robot."

Simon went over to the sofa, sat down and looked towards Hermione. "I take it you were a rubbish robot?"

"Oh, I was a good robot for a while but my batteries unfortunately died very quickly." She closed her book and smiled at her son-in-law. "Must have been some of Arthur's old ones."

Rose knelt down next to her robot sons. "You know, robots need to recharge their batteries. I believe it's time to go to your charging stations. Come on now, up to bed."

As usual this began the regular series of complaints. The boys didn't want to go to bed, they weren't tired, Artie didn't have to go to bed that early, it was Saturday…the usual. It wasn't until Ron took off his robot head that the boys obeyed.

"Right then, lads, the head robot has decreed that it is time for recharging. Up to bed, er, your charging stations. Before that, though, you have to do maintenance."

"Mait'nce?" Nigel took off his box. "Whassat?"

"Brushing your teeth, things like that. Come on, up you go." Ron stood up and his grandsons followed suit. He picked up Graham and led Walter and Nigel upstairs, making Simon chuckle.

"Can we have him do that every night? Much easier." Simon looked over at Hermione. "I'd pay him."

"I'm just amazed their clean and in new pajamas; and that Graham's not naked." Rose sat down on the sofa next to Simon. "How'd you manage that, Mum?"

Hermione pointed upstairs. "Your father. Something about getting new robot bodies. I tried for ten minutes but they wouldn't budge." She looked over at Simon. "Were you this much trouble? I need to speak with your mum."

"Worse." Rosie laughed. "Simon slept under the kitchen table once because…"

"Rose…" Simon shook his head. "Enough with the embarrassing stories. Yes, Mum, I was that bad. Worse, though, as I was an only child."

"Guess we don't have to worry about that, do we?" Ron walked into the room and sat in the chair opposite of Hermione. "So when's the newest robot arriving again?"

"December, Dad." Rose put her hand on her stomach without realizing it. "December, right after Christmas but before New Year's."

Ron looked towards the ceiling for a moment and didn't say anything for a while. "Before the Wasps but after the Harpies. That'll work."

Hermione shook her head and stood up. "Honestly. You are horrible. Come on, Ron, we should be going." She hugged Rose and Simon in turn. "I'm so happy for you two, but if it's another boy I think I'll stop coloring my hair. Everyone will know exactly why I've gone gray."

* * *

Rose was not looking forward to arriving at her office on Monday morning. Yes, the normal duties of her position at Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes would not be an issue, but she was dreading the mail, specifically a letter from Freddie Weasley. In all the time she'd operated Magical Match she had never once had to pay out the Galleon Back Guarantee, and she was worried about the negative press that might arise. Even more concerning was the fact that after Elise and Freddie's horrible date she was beginning to doubt her vision. Ever since she was small and realized her abilities she had always been right, even if it had taken a while for her vision to come to fruition.

Right after taking her first sip of tea her Uncle George walked into her office without knocking or otherwise making his presence known, sat down and slumped into the chair. "You had to have a better weekend than I did, Rosie. Have an extra cup?"

Rose conjured a cup and saucer, poured the tea and handed it to her uncle. "Yes, I had a good weekend. What happened to you?"

George took a sip of tea and then straightened up in the chair. "Well everything was going along perfectly on Saturday, Ang and I went to go see Albus in that new play thing he's doing, and Ang liked it." He stopped suddenly. "Don't tell Al but it bored the pants off of me." He took another sip of tea and then put the cup and saucer on Rose's desk. "After that was finished we went out for coffee, talked about a few things and got home rather late. I'd just about fallen asleep when your Uncle Harry shows up at the house, banging on the door. When I let him in he tells me that they've got Freddie in custody, so I had to go down and bail him out. I swear that boy's going to make me mental."

Rose's eyes went wide. Freddie's last words to her indicated that he intended on drinking a large quantity of firewhiskey, never a good thing. "What'd he do?"

George chortled. "Oh, you love this. You know he used to date Elise, Poesy's girl? Remember how that ended horribly? Apparently they're back on because they caught them shagging in the park, both of them drunk as ogres."

"Merlin!" Covered her smile with her hand.

"Yep." George nodded. "Told Freddie to take the day off and get sorted. Thought Ang was going to…well, you know what she's like when she's really wound up. Scary quiet and calm." George shuddered. "Haven't seen her that way since Freddie invited his Quidditch team over unannounced and they caught, well, I probably shouldn't be telling you that story."

This time Rose didn't bother to hide her laugh, as it was well known amongst the cousins that Freddie's impromptu party interrupted a very romantic moment between George and Angelina.

"That's right, laugh it up, Rosie. At least Freddie can escape back to his place but I've got to go home tonight and I'm sure I'll hear an earful. Well, in this ear, anyway." George pointed to his single ear. "Don't know what I'm going to do with that boy. I mean, its one thing to, well, yeah, that, but when he gets Ang all wound up? I won't get a decent meal for days. You know she's a horrible cook when she's angry."

"Let me get this straight, George. You have no problem with the fact that your son was arrested by the Aurors for being drunk and naked in a park with Elise, but the sticking point is that you're going to have an angry wife whose cooking will be off for a few days?"

George thought about it for a while. "Mmmm, yeah, that's it."

"Amazing." Rose shook her head at him. "Don't you have work to do? I know I do. You do want to be able to invest in that new…"

George stood up. "Say no more. Jokes are serious business."

After George left Rose busied herself with work, smiling about her cousin and Elise. Perhaps her vision wasn't wrong, just a little father down the timeline. When the mail came she didn't feel the overwhelming sense of dread she'd felt earlier that morning; instead she felt energized. After waiting the appropriate amount of time to ensure nobody came into her office to talk about an invoice or something similar she opened up the Magical Match mail. No letter appeared from Freddie, but then again he probably wouldn't have had the time to write and request a refund, especially if there was still hope for him and Elise. None of the questionnaires seemed out of the ordinary, but after she opened the last envelope she gasped.

There was no mistaking it; the person who she hoped would never send in a questionnaire had done exactly that. Her mother, a matchmaker in her own fashion had always considered him her greatest failure. Seamus Finnegan's questionnaire lay on her desk, filled out in a firm, bold hand. The playboy of the Auror office, even at his age, unmarried and irascible. The fact that she might actually have to fulfill the Galleon Back Guarantee was a distinct possibility now.


	4. The White Whale

**Chapter 4: The White Whale**

Two weeks had gone by since Rose and Simon had officially announced that a new baby was on the way. The scene at The Burrow was as expected; Granny Molly was ecstatic, everybody else was excited and Hugo teased Simon about being a randy centaur. When they had dinner later that night with Simon's parents, though, it was even funnier to Simon. Oliver and Katie were somehow even happier than the Weasleys, as Simon was an only child. While in the midst of eating, after they'd moved on to other topics, Katie sat down her fork.

"You know, you'll have enough for a Keeper, two Chasers and a Seeker. If you keep going you could fill out a Quidditch team!"

Rose had initially thought she was joking, but the look on her face indicated that she was, in fact, serious. Simon must have heard Rose's slight intake of breath as she felt his hand take hers under the table and squeeze it gently. Even though Simon went along with his parents' desire to field an entire Quidditch team made up of their grandchildren Rose knew that he was humoring them.

It was while telling George that Oliver and Katie wanted her to birth a Quidditch team that the mail arrived, and after George left to do whatever it was that he actually did all day Rose opened the mail. Unfortunately there were no Magical Match questionnaires; actually in some way, it was good that there weren't any Magical Match questionnaires. Rose was worried about who she would find that would be Seamus Finnegan's match or, most likely, she wouldn't find anyone and would have to refund his money. Seamus was somewhat of a legend in the Auror office, the reason that a certain disguise spell had an element that would cause the person disguised to revert to their original appearance if anything "intimate" happened, the Auror who had at one time dated most of the assistants in the Auror office and above all one of the least politically correct people that Rose had ever met. Those were just the stories, though; Rose needed more information, and she knew of one person who would give her a good background on Seamus, but it would come at a cost.

Rose left a note on her desk saying that she would be out of the office for the afternoon and gathered her things; luckily she was caught up on her duties, so she wasn't worried that things would get out of hand if she was away for the afternoon. If George said anything she'd say something about morning sickness or other baby related things and that would be enough for her uncle. As she walked out of Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes she wasn't sure about her plan, as it made her stomach somewhat upset in a different way than morning sickness. Abruptly she shook her head; she'd kept it a secret just between her and Simon for too long, and if anyone could keep this secret it was him.

When she arrived outside her father's office his assistant smiled as she saw Rose.

"Congratulations Rose! Your father was ecstatic. Here to see him?"

Rose nodded and sat down in the chair beside the assistant's desk. "Thank you. What's his schedule like today?"

"You're in luck, he's in a meeting now but he should be out any minute and after that he doesn't have anything until 2."

Ron Weasley came around the corner deep in conversation with an elderly wizard, both of them looking at parchment. As they came towards the assistant's desk Ron stopped suddenly. "Rosie! This is a nice surprise." He glanced towards the elderly wizard and nodded. "We can pick that up later this afternoon." As the wizard walked away Ron went over to his door, opened it, and nodded his head towards the office, indicating that Rose should enter. As Rose entered Ron leaned over to his assistant and told her to hold everything until further notice.

Rose sat in her father's office and felt like she was ten years old again. She'd always loved her father's office, so different from her mother's little cozy office. Ron's space was covered with maps, a few old wanted posters and pictures of his children and grandchildren and of course a large Chudley Cannons pennant. The picture of Rose, Ron and Simon in his Cannons uniform was prominently displayed under the pennant. And as always, prominently displayed on his desk was her parents' wedding picture. Rose avoided her Uncle Harry's chair, which had been enchanted to keep everyone except Harry out of the chair, and sat down opposite of her father. As usual Ron pulled out a tin of chocolate biscuits.

"So, Rosie, I'm always glad to see you, but what brings you by today?"

Rose glanced at her father and unknowingly began turning the rings on her fingers. "Well, Daddy, I'm…it's just…I need some help, and…"

Ron took a deep breath and sat back in his chair. "Rosie, what's going on? Something must be up because you're messing about with your rings and you called me Daddy. It's not Simon, is it?"

Rose immediately stopped playing with her rings and shook her head. "Oh no, Simon's wonderful as always, it's just…" Rose looked down, took a deep breath and then fixed her father in the eye. "Promise you won't tell Mum?"

"Rose? Little girl, what is it? And it's not fair asking me to not tell your Mum, you know I'm crap at that." Ron got up from his chair and began making tea. "You know if you tell me I'm going to talk to your mum, especially if she asks. She always knows when I'm not telling her everything." He stopped suddenly. "Do you need money?"

"No, Dad!" Rose pulled her hair back and let it fall behind her back. "Dad, it's about my visions."

That caused Ron to stop immediately. "What did you see, Rosie? Is it bad?"

She shook her head. "No, Dad. Um, you know how Mum always plays matchmaker? Says she 'has a feeling' about a couple?"

Ron poured the tea into two cups, gave one to Rose and sat on the corner of his desk. "Yes…but that's just your Mum. She likes seeing people paired off."

Rose took a sip of tea. "Well, just like I inherited your freckles and her hair I inherited that too, but with a difference. Dad, have you ever heard of Magical Match?"

Ron nodded. "Yeah, the company that puts couples together if you send in the answers to a lot of questions." He froze. "Rose, are you saying…"

"Yes, Dad. I run Magical Match. I do it on the side, and it doesn't interfere with my work at Uncle George's and it helps bring in extra Galleons. Simon…"

"He knows, right? Please tell me you've told him about this?"

Rose chuckled at her Dad's stern gaze. "Of course, Daddy. Simon and I don't have any secrets."

"Good." Ron rubbed his forehead. "You know, Dilkins down in Magical Games and Sports met his wife through Magical Match. They've been together a few years now. Ok, Rosie, sounds like it works and Simon's happy and you're making a nice bit of gold, so why are you telling me?"

"Usually it isn't hard; I get a feeling about one questionnaire and pair it with another one, usually it just happens, but this time I got one that I need some help on and I think you're the best one to ask."

"Me?" Ron shook his head. "You probably should talk to your Mum. You know she says that I'm one of the least romantic men on the face of the earth."

"She just likes to tease you about that; you're actually pretty good in that department, Dad. I remember…sorry, but I don't think Mum can help. Dad, I got a questionnaire from Seamus Finnegan."

"Merlin's pants." Ron smiled. "Somehow that doesn't surprise me, the old goat."

"Dad, you were his roommate at Hogwarts and you were both Aurors together, what can you tell me about him?"

"Besides the fact that he's in his fifties and sometimes acts like he's seventeen?" Ron took a sip of tea. "Ok, let me think. Wait a second, Rosie…you said that you just use your visions and put people together, why the questions about Seamus? Can't you just do your normal thing? And how long have you been doing this, anyway?"

"A while, Dad, but that's not the issue. I know about his history and I'm afraid of what will happen when I actually do match him with someone. Daddy, this is the first time I've really wondered if I should match someone, or if I can."

Ron looked at his daughter intently and recognized the wheels moving; she resembled Hermione in that way as there was a lot going on underneath the surface. "Ok, Rosie. Ok. Seamus doesn't have a great history; he's got a reputation that I'm sure you're aware of, mostly negative. If I tried to name all of the women he's been involved with one way or another we'd be here all day, but that's because most of his relationships don't last very long. The woman he's been involved with on and off for the longest is, surprisingly, Petal Farnsworth."

That got Rosie's attention. "Professor Farnsworth? My old DADA professor at Hogwarts? Really."

Ron nodded his head. "On and off again for years, mostly off. Never could figure that one out. He was in Wales when she was cursed, you know."

"No, Daddy, I don't know." Rosie shook her head. "Ok, out with it."

Ron scratched his head absentmindedly. "I'm not sure…ok, but this stays between us, obviously. Seamus bought her a ring at a really dodgy shop, a nice ring but far too nice for what he paid for it, which should have been his first hint. Gave her the ring and, well, you know what her hand looks like. We went back and the shop was gone, cleared out, nobody'd ever heard of the place before. Needless to say that didn't go well for Seamus or Petal. That's when he started drinking." Ron looked at his daughter very intently. "If I ever hear one word of what I'm about to tell you I'll…" Ron searched his memory for a moment. "I'll tell your mum that I didn't ruin her lacy nightgown in the wash, the one that she never got to wear, I'll tell her what really happened."

Rose's eyes grew wide and her mouth dropped open. She didn't think anyone would ever connect her to that; she'd 'borrowed' the nightgown for a weekend when she and Simon had gone on a quick holiday after Hogwarts, before they were married. "Daddy! How did you know?"

"Rosie, I'm an Auror. Please." Ron looked as embarrassed as Rose, but he soldiered on. "Ok, after Seamus gave Petal that cursed ring he started drinking. Not just every now and then, but all the time; after work, before work…your Uncle Harry and I finally caught him out on a mission in the field with a half-full bottle of firewhiskey and that was the end of that. We took him to St. Leo's to dry out."

"St. Leo's? I've never heard of that." Rose cocked her head. "Is that part of St. Mungo's?"

"No, and I'm glad you've never heard of it. It's where people go if they get addicted to firewhiskey or worse things. Seamus was officially 'on assignment' but Robards made him go take care of things. He hasn't touched a drop since. So that's the history, little girl. Since then he's been one of your Uncle Harry's best Aurors, almost fanatically dedicated to the job. I guess since his personal life is non-existent, he's not drinking, and he's been by himself for all those years, not to mention the incident with the ring and Petal…you can see why he's lonely. Doesn't surprise me that he sent in a thingy to Magical Match." Ron shook his head and laughed. "Your mum always calls him the white whale."

"White whale? Dad, why does she…"

"Some Muggle book. I guess that means the thing that you can never get, something always out of your reach. I think after setting him up for the fourth time and getting a nasty letter back from the woman the next day your mum just stopped trying." Ron looked at his daughter and winked at her. "Ok, little girl, you know if your mother asks me anything I'll tell her. Magical Match, she'd love that. But you know, I don't think I'll offer it up."

"Thanks, Daddy. Just do me a favor, don't tell her Uncle Harry told you not to say anything; you know that makes her mental."

Rose left her father's office and was almost out of the Ministry when she heard her name being called, causing her shoulders to slump as she recognized her mum's voice.

"Rose, what brings you by today? And you weren't going to stop in and see me?" Hermione stood in her Ministry robes, a large collection of parchment in her arms. "What's wrong, Rose?"

After realizing that there was no way to get out of the situation except lying, Rose walked over to her mum. "I just came over for a minute to talk to Dad. Can you break away for an early lunch?"

* * *

Hermione looked at her watch briefly and then nodded. "Let me put these away and then we'll go to lunch. You're acting very suspicious, Rose. It's not something with Simon or the boys, is it?"

Rose shook her head. "No, Mum. I'll tell you in a few minutes."

The waiter had removed the plates from the table when Hermione shook her head and chuckled. "At least you come by it honestly. If I only had a Galleon for every time I told your father I had a feeling about a couple. But why the secrecy, Rose?"

"Think about it, Mum. I'd have everybody coming up to me asking all sorts of questions and then they'd be angry if I didn't have an answer right away. Do you know what Freddie would have said to me?"

"Very true." Hermione nodded. "I see your point." She looked at the table for quite some time. "Rosie, did I ever tell you about the dreams I had when I was pregnant with you?"

Rose shrugged. "Somewhat. When I was pregnant with Walter you told me you used to have odd dreams. What of it?"

"I think some of your gifts came out in my dreams. I had one of Professor Muggle and Melody before they were married and it came true. I never had those kinds of dreams with your brother." Rose and Hermione were silent as the waiter brought over their bill. Hermione took it before Rose could say anything. "Now, you never did tell me, what was so important that you had to talk to your father?"

The hurt in Hermione's voice was obvious to Rose; she'd gone to her father instead of her mum. "I got a questionnaire from one of Dad's old Hogwarts roommates."

Hermione's mind started whirring and it didn't take her long to come to the correct answer. "Seamus Finnegan? Merlin, Rose."

"Dad said you call him the white whale."

"I tried to get your father to read that book once. He got to the whale chapters and handed it back to me. Yes, Seamus is something of a white whale as I've tried to fix him up with nice women before and it always ends badly. What are you going to do, Rose?"

"I guess I'll wait until I get a questionnaire that matches his. I'm not sure how long that will be, though."

* * *

The next four months went by without a match for Seamus Finnegan. Rose and Simon attended Hermione's farewell party at the Ministry and the news conference announcing Dumbledore University, Ron was officially named Assistant Minister of Magic and the newest pregnancy went along much easier than the previous three. Magical Match settled back into its usual routine, with a few new matches and some additional questionnaires and George continued his morning tea and venting session. Rose was happy to hear that Freddie and Elise had been seeing each other and that things were, surprisingly, going very well. George was mostly happy that Angelina's cooking was back to previous levels and that Freddie hadn't been arrested lately.

The only thing that bothered Rose was that she had developed what her Aunt Ginny called 'pregnant brain;' it seemed like she would forget things that were routine, do things multiple times or easily lose her train of thought when talking to someone. Simon told her it was worse this time than the previous times which caused her to be angry at him for a while, unfortunately right before he had to leave on an extended trip to play a friendly match with one of the Russian teams. Rose was thinking of Simon when she left Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes offices to head to St. Mungo's for her checkup, and it was while she was in the waiting room that she realized that she had not only brought several invoices with her but also the stack of Magical Match questionnaires that had been on her desk.

"Rose Wood?" The blonde Healer stood with a clipboard in her hand. "Rose Wood?"

Rose realized finally that the Healer was saying her name, stood up and walked to the woman. "Here."

The Healer smiled at her. "Well, you've certainly grown since the last time I saw you, in more ways than one." The woman smiled at her. "Right this way."

As Rose followed the Healer she felt confused; did she know this woman? "I'm sorry, have we met?"

The Healer opened the door to the examination room and Rose entered. The Healer walked in and sat her clipboard on the table next to the examination bed. "You were a first year, you probably wouldn't remember me. Besides, I was in Slytherin. I was a seventh year…Gladys McQuillen."

Rose nodded. "Very nice to meet you, Gladys. But how did you know me?"

Gladys began preparing the examination equipment. "Oh, everyone knew who you and your cousins were at Hogwarts. The children of Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Grang…er, Weasley. So much for ancient history, big day for you today, isn't it?"

Rose looked at the Healer strangely. "Big day? So sorry, I'm not following you."

After looking through her clipboard Gladys smiled. "We can tell you the sex of the baby today. If you want to find out, that is."

"Oh!" Rose eased up onto the examination bed, placing her folders at the end next to the pillow. "I hadn't thought about that. And Simon's in Russia…"

"You don't have to, you can wait until the next appointment if you'd like." Gladys looked around the room. "Hmm…don't have the salve in here for it right now…if you want to know I can go get it."

Rose thought about it for a moment and then made up her mind. It would be so nice to apologize to Simon by telling him that he was going to have a daughter. "All right, then. Yes, yes, let's do that today."

Gladys smiled and sat the clipboard on the foot of the examination bed. "I always love this part. I'll be right back."

After waiting for a few moments Rose decided to lie down; after all, that would be the next request and if she was honest with herself her back and her ankles were hurting a bit. She picked up her parchment and then realized that the Healer's clipboard was at the foot of the bed; after picking it up Rose stopped moving.

_The interior of a small, sparse room appeared, lit with only a single lamp. A woman sat on a sofa next to a small fire which was dying. Her voice was soft and her hand was moving slowly over a man's head, stroking his hair. Small sobs could be heard from the man, and the woman spoke in a soothing tone as the man laid his head in her lap. She held him quietly as the fire dwindled and eventually died, leaving them half-lit by the lamp._

"Ok, then, let's find out if you need a blue blanket or a pink blanket." Gladys re-entered the room, noticed the clipboard and hurriedly took it out of Rose's grasp. "Um, I'll take that. You can put your things down over there."

Rose blinked her eyes several times. There had to be a Magical Match questionnaire in the clipboard underneath all of the medical forms! Rose seemed in a daze as she put her files on the table indicated and laid down on the examination bed. Gladys helped Rose move up her shirt to reveal her pregnant stomach and soon the cold salve was spread across her belly. Gladys took out her wand and waved it around her stomach. Both women watched as the salve began to shimmer, the colors initially turning iridescent but finally settling on a very bright, distinct shade of blue.

"Mrs. Wood, it's a boy."

* * *

Rose waited until Simon arrived home from Russia on the weekend to tell him her news. Initially she was caught up in the story of her vision and it was only when Simon reached out and took her hands did she realize he was waiting anxiously for the news.

"I'm Granny Weasley all over again, Simon. It's a boy."

Simon hugged her tightly. "Told you we didn't need to worry about a girl name, Rosie." He held her at arm's length. "Are you ok with this?"

"Do I have a choice?"

Nigel's voice broke the moment. "MUM! WALTER HIT ME!"

Rose and Simon exchanged a knowing look. Before either could say a word Walter came barreling down the staircase. "Nigel made me do it he was jumping on my bed an' knocked down my dragons 'an…"

Simon held up his hand. "Enough. Ok, let's get this sorted." He stood up and pointed towards the staircase. "March."

Rose sat back and shook her head. Another boy added to those three? At least her Mum wouldn't have to color her hair anymore. She picked up the small notepad that she and Simon had begun writing down names and couldn't help but notice that the girl side only held a first and middle name while the boy side had multiple names written down. It was while she was looking over the boy names that Graham came into the room with a stack of papers, tearing pieces off, throwing them in the air and making the paper resemble confetti at a parade.

"Graham William Wood! What are you doing?" Rose held out her hand to her son and he quickly averted her eyes; he looked down at his feet and took several very small steps towards her, remaining as far out of arm's reach as possible. "Graham! Come here."

Reluctantly he moved forward until Rose could take the papers out of his hands. "Where did you get this? You know that's not allowed. What if those were Mummy's work papers? Uncle George wouldn't like that. You want to go to Mummy's work again, don't you?"

That scared Graham as he loved going to his mum's work, specifically because whenever he was there George spoiled him rotten. Without looking at his mum he handed her the papers.

Rose scanned through the papers quickly and found part of a note on top, from George, saying that these had arrived after she had left for the day. The note also had part of a sentence about Freddie, but the rest was missing, leaving Rose wondering what she'd missed. A quick examination of the rest of the papers indicated that they were all Weasleys' papers except for one…that one had Gladys McQuillen's name at the top but the rest was torn away.

After taking a series of very deep breaths Rose looked at Graham. "You are in trouble. You know better than to do that with Mummy's papers. Go pick up every piece of paper and bring it to me, and after that you're going to have supper and then straight to bed. No stories."

Graham gave her his best frown and pouty lip but it didn't do any good. He picked up as many of the pieces of paper as possible, bringing them over to his mum in several trips and had almost finished when Simon came downstairs.

"Do I want to know what happened?"

Rose shook her head quickly. "I'll tell you later. Graham William will be having his supper and then going to bed. No stories tonight."

Simon let out a low whistle. "Son, do what your mum says." He moved across the room slowly and sat down next to his wife. "Bad?"

"Yes."

Simon saw that her face was flushed, and he knew that when she resorted to single syllable answers it was definitely not good. As soon as Graham brought over the last of the pieces of paper Rose just looked at him and pointed towards his bedroom upstairs. Simon had to stifle a laugh as Graham's exit was one of the most pitiful things he had ever seen; his son was trying all of his tricks to make his mother less angry, including looking back towards the sofa when he was on the bottom step with large puppy dog eyes. After catching his eye and shaking his head, Simon watched Graham slowly walk upstairs.

After telling Simon what had happened Rose watched him take out his wand and make the pieces of paper reassemble, and soon the parchment was whole again; Gladys McQuillen's questionnaire, slightly rumpled, lay on her lap. She looked at the questionnaire for a moment, handed it to Simon, and then went over to her bag which sat next to the kitchen table. When she returned Rose took Gladys' questionnaire and, without even looking at the folder, reached in and pulled out a questionnaire.

_A man and a woman sat high on a hill next to a tree as the sun began to slowly sink. The woman leaned into the man and then turned to face him. He looked down at her, smiling, as the sky began to turn dark. A soft rain began to fall, but neither the man nor the woman seemed to notice._

"Rosie?" Simon touched her hand and watched his wife's face return to normal. Even though he'd seen it happen before it still unnerved him. "Rosie, are you ok?"

Rose turned over the questionnaires; Gladys McQuillen and Seamus Finnegan. "Yes, love, I am. And I think they will be, too."

Simon looked at the questionnaires. "I'll be a hippogriff, it's like you thought. You know, from what you told me about him, maybe a Healer would be the best match for him."

Rose raised an eyebrow at Simon. "You're probably right. At least now I won't have to refund his money. Dad sent me a note yesterday, he heard Seamus talking with Rory Abertnut about how Magical Match was a scam."

Simon smiled. "Rory Wood. Hey, I rather like that."


End file.
